Now, as we wind up the busy month of June high school basketball and have gone through another exciting spring of club basketball, I have realized that it is definitely an entirely new day for basketball across the country, and also in the state of Arizona. The game has completely changed for everyone in the industry, including the coaches, players, parents and all student-athletes that desire to be recruited by college programs. With the emergence and growth of the NCAA Transfer Portal, the development of NIL money for today's student-athletes, and the recruitment opportunities and competition created by prep schools, parents and players across the country, and especially in Arizona, now have to consider many new options to achieve desired outcomes. Parents and players also now have to make the necessary adjustments necessary to be able to navigate the process.
A cliché term in basketball has consistently been to trust the process. Unfortunately for parents and players across the country, the process has now changed considerably, and the majority of parents and players do not understand it. They didn't understand it before, and now they really do not. For most of us in the industry, it has been very difficult to understand and/or navigate. The new recruiting process has emerged and parents and players now have to evolve to deal with the pressures associated with the new recruiting process.
For parents interested in seeing their sons and daughters get recruited by college programs, they have had to make serious adjustments to their level of understanding of the recruiting process. Years ago, parents did not understand the recruiting process either, but scholarship offers were much more obtainable and accessible to student-athletes. Most parents relied heavily on their club coaches and high school coaches for their college recruitment, while today it is a much more proactive process for parents. Parents of elite student-athletes now have to be intentional in their decisions, as the recruiting process is much more difficult to navigate. With the rise and growth of the NCAA Transfer Portal, it has become increasingly important to make effective decisions that will benefit the student-athlete in the recruiting process. Today, the majority of college programs are recruiting the portal, which has made it much more difficult to get recruited for high school prospects.
Parents of elite-level athletes now also have to deal with the NIL as part of their decision-making process. With top-rated high school athletes, the NIL has made it possible for these athletes to receive financial support and sponsorship. The state of Arizona's Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) actually passed a new rule this spring that now allows Arizona high school student-athletes to receive money, but the details of the new rule are still restricting and force AIA student-athletes to receive their finances through a collective through their high school program. The majority of Arizona high school programs are still trying to figure out this new rule, while also learning how to develop a format to pay players. This new rule will impact student-athletes in football, much more than it will in basketball, but it will have a significant impact on Arizona basketball, at some point.
The conduct of parents has become a serious topic of discussion around the country, as the pressure to perform by student-athletes across the country has become greater. Add in the new opportunity to also earn NIL money while in high school, and now parents across the country have become a major problem for their student-athletes. The attitude of parents in the stands during games, the constant pressure placed on the student-athlete by some parents before and after games, and the potential for parents to also create issues with coaches during and after games has become a major concern around the country. Parents now also have to adjust how and what they say to their respective student-athletes, before during and after games to help maximize their son's or daughter's potential on and off the basketball court. With the pressure to perform for student-athletes being at the highest level we have ever seen, parents are now encouraged to focus on the mental health of the student-athlete.
Former Arizona Preps Director of Operations, George Courtney, now of GC3 Hoops, recently held a showcase event for girls in the spring @ Chandler-Gilbert Community College, which was the first of it's kind, as Courtney invited former Adidas Director of Grassroots Basketball, Chris Rivers, to speak to the event participants and their parents before the event. Rivers has become legendary in the industry for his long tenure and success in building Grassroots basketball in America, through his time at Adidas and Reebok. Rivers now travels the country and provides educational seminars for players and parents known as the "Chris Rivers Rap." During the activity, Rivers provides real life behavioral situations between players and parents, while developing solutions for the issues involved today with parents and student-athletes and how to navigate these challenges. Rivers has spent his own money traveling around the country to give these valuable interactive speeches to high school programs, players and parents to help develop the national basketball community in this area, as the mental health of the student-athlete to perform has become a concern and focus.
Courtney's introduction to Arizona student-athletes of this issue should continue to be the focus for event organizers going forward. Courtney has made educational opportunities for parents and players a focus of his events going forward, while also aiding in the recruitment of numerous prospects in the state. While playing games is important to improve the recruiting process, the education around the behavior of parents and players during this process has become just as important. Today, college programs will certainly pass on a student-athlete if he or she is a problem, or even if it is widely known that the parents are a problem. Coaches do not want to deal with it anymore, and extreme situations can alter or hinder a student-athlete's recruitment. We have to do better.
Parents now need to learn the new recruiting process and understand it, as well as the student-athlete, so that effective decisions can be made by the family on how to navigate the recruiting process, and to positively impact it. With the continued and developing lure to play for prep schools from AIA student-athletes and high school student-athletes in America, parents now need to understand their son's or daughter's ability to play the game and set realistic expectations to help make the best decisions for the player's future. Whether to play for a high school program, and have the high school experience, or to play for a top-rated local or national prep program, now has become a major topic of focus for today's top student-athletes and their parents. The more education and understanding of which direction to take for a student-athlete, can be a vital aspect of the future success of the recruiting process for the prospect.
A lot of thought and preparation now has to be given to this elusive process that has developed and expanded over time. To have success during the recruiting process, the education around it has become vital to help potentially navigate it. For high school and junior college prospects today, the recruitment opportunities have diminished a great deal due to the growth and importance of the NCAA Transfer Portal for college programs. Most Division-I college programs are no longer recruiting high school kids , so student-athletes now have to have a plan, in many cases, to get there. It may take playing in high school for (4) years to maximize production. It may take going to a prep school to improve recruitment opportunities and exposure to college coaches, but that could backfire as well. It may take going to a lesser level of college program, or it may take having a post-graduate year or going to a junior college before making the move to a four year college. Whatever path a student-athlete decides to take is all a part of the process now - a process that has certainly changed a great deal over time, and only will continue to change as the industry continues to change, NIL money opportunities continue to develop, and recruitment opportunities continue to diminish.
The reality of the situation is that education around these topics and the understanding of the process needs to be the focus going forward. The more educated a student-athlete and their parents are about the recruiting process, the greater opportunity for success in navigating it.